Explanatory power - Wikipedia Explanatory power From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search This article is about explanatory power in the context of the philosophy of science. For a statistical measure of explanatory power, see coefficient of determination and mean squared prediction error. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Explanatory power" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Explanatory power is the ability of a hypothesis or theory to explain the subject matter effectively to which it pertains. Its opposite is explanatory impotence. In the past, various criteria or measures for explanatory power have been proposed. In particular, one hypothesis, theory, or explanation can be said to have more explanatory power than another about the same subject matter if more facts or observations are accounted for; if it changes more "surprising facts" into "a matter of course" (following Peirce); if more details of causal relations are provided, leading to a high accuracy and precision of the description; if it offers greater predictive power (if it offers more details about what should be expected to be seen and not seen); if it depends less on authorities and more on observations; if it makes fewer assumptions; if it is more falsifiable (more testable by observation or experiment, according to Popper). Recently, David Deutsch proposed that theorists should seek explanations that are hard to vary. By that expression, he intended to state that a hard-to-vary explanation provides specific details that fit together so tightly that it is impossible to change any detail without affecting the whole theory. Contents 1 Overview 2 Examples 3 Relation to other criteria 4 See also 5 References Overview[edit] Deutsch considers the truth to be detailed and "hard to vary assertions about reality". The philosopher and physicist David Deutsch offers a criterion for a good explanation that he considered to be possibly just as important to scientific progress as learning to reject appeals to authority and falsifiability. To Deutsch, the aspects of a good explanation and more are contained in any theory that is specific and "hard to vary". He believes that criterion to help to eliminate "bad explanations" that keep adding justifications, and can otherwise avoid ever being truly falsified.[1] An explanation that is hard to vary but does not survive a critical test can be considered to be falsified.[1] Examples[edit] Deutsch takes examples from Greek mythology. He describes how very specific, and even somewhat falsifiable theories were provided to explain how the god Demeter's sadness caused the seasons. Alternatively, Deutsch points out, one could have just as easily explained the seasons as resulting from the god's happiness, which would make it a poor explanation because it is so easy to arbitrarily change details.[1] Without Deutsch's criterion, the 'Greek gods explanation' could have just kept adding justifications. The same criterion, of being "hard to vary", may be what makes the modern explanation for the seasons a good one. None of the details about the earth rotating around the sun at a certain angle in a certain orbit can be easily modified without changing the theory's coherence.[1][2] Relation to other criteria[edit] It can be argued that the criterion hard to vary is closely related to Occam's razor: both imply logical consistency and a minimum of assumptions. The philosopher Karl Popper acknowledged it is logically possible to avoid falsification of a hypothesis by changing details to avoid any criticism, adopting the term an immunizing stratagem from Hans Albert.[3] Popper argued that scientific hypotheses should be subjected to methodological testing to select for the strongest hypothesis.[4] See also[edit] Falsifiability Razor (philosophy) Critical Rationalism References[edit] ^ a b c d David Deutsch, "A new way of explaining explanation" ^ David Deutsch (2011), The Beginning Of Infinity", ch1, The Reach of Explanations ^ Ray S. Percival (2012), The Myth of the Closed Mind: Explaining why and how People are Rational, p.206, Chicago. ^ Karl R. Popper (1934), The Logic of Scientific Discovery, p.20, Routledge Classics (ed. 2004) Links to related articles v t e Philosophy of science Concepts Analysis Analytic–synthetic distinction A priori and a posteriori Causality Commensurability Consilience Construct Creative synthesis Demarcation problem Empirical evidence Explanatory power Fact Falsifiability Feminist method Functional contextualism Ignoramus et ignorabimus Inductive reasoning Intertheoretic reduction Inquiry Nature Objectivity Observation Paradigm Problem of induction Scientific law Scientific method Scientific revolution Scientific theory Testability Theory choice Theory-ladenness Underdetermination Unity of science Metatheory of science Coherentism Confirmation holism Constructive empiricism Constructive realism Constructivist epistemology Contextualism Conventionalism Deductive-nomological model Hypothetico-deductive model Inductionism Epistemological anarchism Evolutionism Fallibilism Foundationalism Instrumentalism Pragmatism Model-dependent realism Naturalism Physicalism Positivism / Reductionism / Determinism Rationalism / Empiricism Received view / Semantic view of theories Scientific realism / Anti-realism Scientific essentialism Scientific formalism Scientific skepticism Scientism Structuralism Uniformitarianism Vitalism Philosophy of Physics thermal and statistical Motion Chemistry Biology Geography Social science Technology Engineering Artificial intelligence Computer science Information Mind Psychiatry Psychology Perception Space and time Related topics Alchemy Criticism of science Descriptive science Epistemology Faith and rationality Hard and soft science History and philosophy of science History of science History of evolutionary thought Logic Metaphysics Normative science Pseudoscience Relationship between religion and science Rhetoric of science Science studies Sociology of scientific knowledge Sociology of scientific ignorance Philosophers of science by era Ancient Plato Aristotle Stoicism Epicureans Medieval Averroes Avicenna Roger Bacon William of Ockham Hugh of Saint Victor Dominicus Gundissalinus Robert Kilwardby Early modern Francis Bacon Thomas Hobbes René Descartes Galileo Galilei Pierre Gassendi Isaac Newton David Hume Late modern Immanuel Kant Friedrich Schelling William Whewell Auguste Comte John Stuart Mill Herbert Spencer Wilhelm Wundt Charles Sanders Peirce Wilhelm Windelband Henri Poincaré Pierre Duhem Rudolf Steiner Karl Pearson Contemporary Alfred North Whitehead Bertrand Russell Albert Einstein Otto Neurath C. D. Broad Michael Polanyi Hans Reichenbach Rudolf Carnap Karl Popper Carl Gustav Hempel W. V. O. Quine Thomas Kuhn Imre Lakatos Paul Feyerabend Jürgen Habermas Ian Hacking Bas van Fraassen Larry Laudan Daniel Dennett Category  Philosophy portal  Science portal v t e Philosophical logic Critical thinking and informal logic Analysis Ambiguity Argument Belief Bias Credibility Evidence Explanation Explanatory power Fact Fallacy Inquiry Opinion Parsimony (Occam's razor) Premise Propaganda Prudence Reasoning Relevance Rhetoric Rigor Vagueness Theories of deduction Constructivism Dialetheism Fictionalism Finitism Formalism Intuitionism Logical atomism Logicism Nominalism Platonic realism Pragmatism Realism This logic-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Explanatory_power&oldid=984300603" Categories: Philosophy of science Metatheory Logic stubs Hidden categories: Articles needing additional references from October 2016 All articles needing additional references All stub articles Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages Português Русский کوردی Suomi Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 19 October 2020, at 10:51 (UTC). 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